Turning Point
by Watermelon-Dragon-Chibi
Summary: "Come on, come on, move" Hiccup drummed out a rhythm on the steering wheel of his beat-up pickup truck, staring blankly off into the standstill traffic that had built up before him. - Zombie AU - When Hiccup witnesses a terrifying death at the hands of a monster he realises that it's win or die, with the help of the strange and eccentric man Toothless, will they survive?(Toothcup)
1. Chapter 1

**Rated M for violence, gore and language, you have been warned. **

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"Come on, come on, move"

Hiccup drummed out a rhythm on the steering wheel of his beat-up pickup truck, staring blankly off into the standstill traffic that had built up before rows of cars had brought the motorway to a complete and utter halt, drivers exchanged sympathetic and irritated looks to each other and all Hiccup wanted to do was take the damn shopping home that he had set out to get.

He was a young man of the age of twenty with wild and unkept reddish brown hair that was braided into two small plaits behind his right ear; he had striking grass-green eyes and a generous scattering of freckles that sprayed across his cheeks and his nose that was a bit on the largish side. He was chewing on some gum, his brows cast low as he glared through the windshield; he fiddled with the hem of his Paramore T-shirt and bounced his legs up and down.

"I can't take this anymore!" He banged his head on the wheel, setting the horn off and startling both himself and other drivers around him.

"Sorry" he mouthed to the drivers parked either side of him, cringing in embarrassment; but seriously, _what on Earth_ was holding the traffic up for over two hours without moving an inch?!

That's when Hiccup saw people in the distance getting out of their cars and running towards him in a frenzied state.

"What in the-?"

The young man squinted to get a better look, he was meant to wear glasses but he had left them at home because he didn't think he really needed them even though the lenses were as thick as the bottom of a beer bottle. Hiccup rolled the window down and motioned for the driver next to him to the same,

"What's going on?" Hiccup shouted across the gap,

"I dunno man, you think we should go?" The man replied, a worried look on his face.

"I dunno about you, but I'm not leaving my truck in the middle of the motorway" Hiccup felt uneasy, something was happening that shouldn't be happening.

A blood curdling scream tore through the air, ringing around the cars and causing everyone running to halt; a shudder went down Hiccup's spine, chilling him to the bone.

"What the **fuck** was that?!" His eyes were wide and scanning the motorway for any signs of danger.

"**RUN!" **The man in the car next to him threw open his door and bolted out into the road.

Hiccup stayed, paralysed in his seat with fear, gripping his steering wheel with both hands causing his knuckles to turn white from the strain. A woman was running in the distance, her mouth was open in a scream, tears pouring down her cheeks. What was she running from? What the fuck was out there?

Hiccup's eyes widened as a man grabbed her head and pulled her back brutally, snapping her neck instantly as he did. Hiccup couldn't see clearly, but the man looked maddened, his eyes were alarmingly wide and bloodshot, and his skin was a sickly grey colour. He had a huge chunk of flesh missing from his left arm, the bone and nerve endings showing through and spilling darkened black blood onto the road. He picked the woman up by her hair and tore off a piece of her neck with his teeth.

Still Hiccup couldn't move, he felt tears streaking down his cheeks, but he couldn't move.

'_Run dammit! Run! Run! Run!' _The words played over and over in his mind, with a wrench he pulled his hands from the steering wheel, threw open the door and hurtled himself out into the road.

People were shouting and crying behind Hiccup, there were more of the sickening looking humans ripping people apart and snapping their bones as if they were made of sticks.

'_Nowhere to run! can't go anywhere!going to die!' _the words inside his head deafened him, he couldn't think or feel anything that wasn't death.

'_To the trees, got to go to the trees'_

The man sprinted through the cars, sliding across the hoods and jumping the roofs, his eyes trained on the trees lining the road that he knew led out into a substantial forest.

_'I'm going to live! I'm going to be okay! Not far, not far, not far!'_ With a last burst of speed Hiccup shot over the side of a ditch and pressed his back into the damp muddy bank; screams could still be heard so he covered his ears with his hands and bent his back over so that he could bury his face in his knees. Then, the screaming stopped, only animalistic sounds of howling could be heard, and then they too stopped and everywhere was silent.

"Shit!" Hiccup punched the ground, he started crying again, "shit!" He swore again looking up at the sky and trying to stop himself from going mad.

He didn't know what had just happened but he knew that those creatures weren't human, how could they be?

What he did know was that he had to get to a shop as soon as he could and get supplies and get home, he had left his shopping in the truck, but no way in hell was he venturing back into the motorway in case the creatures were still there.

"It's gonna be okay, I'm gonna be fine" the man picked himself off the ground and stumbled forwards, he knew the way to the nearest convince store, and it wasn't far from where he was, he just had to make it there, completely unarmed and exhausted.

He just had to make it.

* * *

_So!-_

_I'm still writing my other HTTYD fic, I just wanted to have two going at the same time (yeah, yeah, I know that's a crazy and stupid idea) _

_So I have my other fic which is in the same world and Hiccup's the chief yada yada~ but I wanted a Zombie AU, just cause, and I haven't seen anyone else do one yet so awesome! _

_Thinking of making this Toothcup but I'll see how it goes (let me know if you want that pairing) _

_Toothless shows up next chapter~ (and no he's not a dragon) _

_Thanks for reading ~ Watermelon-Dragon-Chibi_


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: How To Train Your Dragon is not mine: it belongs to Dreamworks and Cressida Cowell. only this fanfic is mine.**

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Hiccup's hands fumbled as he tried to pick up items of food off the shelves.

He had made it to the supermarket, though it hadn't been an easy run. He had almost collided with the human-like creatures twice on his way there; and in hiding from one he had cut a deep gash on his right leg, caused by almost slipping down a storm drain.

"J-Just breathe, r-r-relax" he thought out loud, his voice cracking from the nervous breakdown that was trying to destroy him. He lifted his arm to pick up a can of dried fruit, but his hand was shaking so violently that he knocked it off along with several other cans making a loud clattering on the tiled floor.

Hiccup's mentality snapped; he fell to the floor with his back against the shelf, his breathing quickening until he struggled to get enough oxygen into his lungs to support his body.

"H-help-" he gasped out, he had always suffered from panic attacks since he was a little boy, he had a special inhaler at home that helped him breathe when he hyperventilated, however, he was a long way from home and the store was empty apart from the odd person who looked just as terrified as he did.

"Help..." Hiccup wrapped his arms around his chest, trying to give himself a sense of security, he was in _his_ space, nothing could touch him as long as he was in _his_ space.

"...Hey" his vision was starting to weaken, sounds were dimmed and his head was swimming, "hey!" The voice was distorted, like someone was shouting down a really long and echoey tunnel.

A sharp snap across his cheek brought him back into the real world.

"I said hey!" Hiccup looked up to see a man about the same age as him looking down with worried eyes.

He had scruffy raven-black hair that was cut short just below his ears, but it was fluffed out and as wild as Hiccup's own. He had seriously pale skin, Hiccup noted, as if he had never set foot outside; his teeth were slightly too large for his mouth and his eyes were the most striking shade of deep green Hiccup had ever seen.

"Hey, man, are you okay?" The dark-haired stranger crouched down.

"Y-yeah" Hiccup wheezed, still trying to regulate his air intake,

"You almost killed yourself, breathing fast like that, and you kept babbling nonsense to yourself! I thought you had dived off the loopy end" his mouth widened into a toothy smile, "glad to see you're alright now"

Hiccup pushed himself into a more upright position, now breathing normally, and opened his mouth to speak,

"What's your name?"

The man looked at him as if he didn't know how to answer,

"Toothless"

"Huh what?"

"My name, it's Toothless; well, actually it's Tim as in Timothy, but everyone calls me Toothless" he babbled, a nervous laugh breaking from his lips,

"And why do they call you that? you look like you've got more then enough teeth to me" Hiccup pointed at the man's slightly too-large teeth and laughed,

"Hey!" Toothless punched his arm playfully, "that's sorta the reason people call me Toohless, it's 'cause my teeth are so big that it's sorta like reverse humour"

"Ahh, right" Hiccup tried to look serious, they both made eye contact and stared laughing spontaneously at the same time; it was nice to have a moment of normality in the recently upturned world.

"My name's Hiccup" the red-head spoke,

"And that's that a nickname for?" Toothless laughed,

"Because I make a hiccup of everything, my name's actually James but no-one calls me that anymore, the nickname sorta stuck" Toothless hummed in response and turned again.

"We need to get going" Toothless threw an empty rucksack at Hiccup,

"We-?"

"Yeah, you can come with me _or_ you can stay, that is, if you want to die you can stay" his back was turned to Hiccup as he sorted through some cans on the opposite shelf and tossed some into his own rucksack.

"I'll go with you then" Hiccup rummaged through the cans,

"What exactly is it that you're looking for here?" The red-head motioned to the assortment of dried and salted food.

"Anything that won't perish, we're not gonna be able to find somewhere else with this much selection again when more people find out about the Crawlers,"

"The what?"

"Crawlers, it's what we're calling them, those people-like things that are tearing people apart"

Hiccup nodded in acknowledgement, he was _very_ familiar with the monsters.

He returned to pulling cans off the shelf, putting as many cans of dried fruit as he could into the bag, he then moved on to salted meat and fish; as he neared Toothless he reached out for a can of persevered eel,

"**Oh fuck no! Put that stuff back it's nasty**!" Toothless swatted the item out of Hiccup's hand, sending it crashing to the floor,

"I don't like eel much either, don't know why I even picked that up" he laughed nervously and followed Toothless down the next aisle and filled the remaining space in the bags with bottles of clear water.

"Right that's it, we've got everything now, this should last us a week...possibly," he grinned, "it's gonna be heavy, and you're gonna have to move quickly, we've got a house reinforced downtown and I don't have time to wait for slackers; survival of the fittest my friend"

Hiccup was abruptly reminded of his childhood, always coming last in every single race he ever ran, even with his intimidatingly large father yelling cheers of support from the sideline that could deafen someone standing too close to him.

"Okay, I'll do my best"

Toothless nodded, accepting the reply, and the two walked out of the store.

"Oh here, I almost forgot" Toothless paused briefly and unbuckled something from around his thigh, he moved quickly and soon it was attached to Hiccup instead.

"What's this?" Hiccup inspected the item,

"It's a sheath, it's got a knife in it, I don't like weapons but we don't really have a choice"

Hiccup glanced worriedly over at the other man, he didn't _look_ dangerous, but who knew what he was capable of? After all, he had a knife strapped to his leg only moments before.

"What about you? Aren't you now unarmed?" Hiccup inquired,

"Nope" Toothless moved the rucksack aside to show Hiccup a machete that he had slung across his back,

"Wow..." Hiccup swallowed thickly, "where did you get these from?"

"The weapons?"

Hiccup nodded,

"The guy who owns the house we're going to works for the army, well, worked; he's a veteran." Toothless explained, "now we have to keep quiet, I saw Crawlers here on my way down to the store"

"Why would you come down to the store if you were safe in someone's house?" Hiccup whispered,

"To get supplies, and to see if there was anyone else alive to join us, now shut up!" The dark-haired man changed his posture, suddenly becoming stealthy like a predator.

They moved swiftly and silently through the back alleys of a shabby housing estate and soon they emerged into a fairly posh avenue.

"That's the place" Toothless pointed to a impressive white building that looked more expensive then Hiccup's truck and his house put together.

"He's loaded" he commented idly, jogging after Toothless up to the front door.

He knocked on the wood twice,

"It's Toothless, open up"

The sound of bolts being drawn back was heard, and soon the door was swung open for them.

A middle-aged man stood aside for them to enter. Hiccup looked back to see that the door had been reinforced with sheets of steel and several heavy bolts and chains.

Nothing was getting into the house.

"I got us a new recruit," Toothless spoke out to the seemingly empty house, "everyone, meet Hiccup"

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_Second chapter yay! I tried to make it a bit longer, although it's really hard because I write this on my phone so it's difficult to get a good grip on how much I've wrote!_

_Thank you to everyone who reviewed,_

_**Josephagc**: thank you for your kind comment! I'm glad you enjoyed the first chapter!_

_**Maggi-lefay**: wow! Thank you for your comment, I feel honoured that you read this, especially as I think this fic isn't even in your own language (you said you used a translator to write the comment) points for dedication there!_

_On further note, I think this will eventually become a Toothcup as this is the common vote, although it's still up to you guys to decide! yes for Toothcup or no? ~ Watermelon-Dragon-Chibi_


	3. Chapter 3

Hiccup withdrew into himself as several shadowy figures emerged from the depths of the building; most of them were looking at him with curiosity and some with distrust in their eyes.

"He's a little scrawny, Tooth" a man who looked a little older than Hiccup stepped forwards to examine him.

"Yeah, but he kept up with me all the way here with a bag full of stuff _and_ after seeing the Crawlers for the first time" Toothless pleaded his case,

"Okay, he looks a little weak, but I guess he can stay" the dark haired man replied, 'tsk'ing' the red haired man in disapproval.

"That's not up to you anyway Snot! It's the chief's decision" the man apparently named 'Snot' bristled with silent fury and walked threateningly towards the shorter man.

"I could get you kicked out of here and dead sooner then you can blink, you freak; remember your place!" he kicked Toothless sharply in the leg, sending him crashing to the floor.

"Hey!" Hiccup grabbed the man's shoulder, pulling him back roughly,

"What the fuck did you do that for?"

Snot flicked his hand off his shoulder in distaste and turned quickly to face Hiccup. He pushed his hand around the other's throat,

"Don't make me kill you" he muttered, squeezing tightly at Hiccup's neck in a warning before tossing him aside.

"Hey, you alright?" Toothless crawled over to Hiccup,

"He strangled me" Hiccup cupped neck with his hands, the skin was sore under his fingers.

"Can I have a look?" Toothless asked. Hiccup nodded and allowed the other man to push his hands out of the way.

"I think we have some cream that will help with that somewhere" he mumbled, running his fingertips over the angry red band that wound around Hiccup's neck.

Hiccup flinched sharply as Toothless pressed on slightly too hard in his examination,

"Oh man, I'm so sorry" he looked apologetically at the other, "come on, let's get you something to put on that"

The two men left the entrance hall and walked through two more rooms and down a corridor until they reached what looked like a storage room of some sort.

"Here we are" Toothless pulled a bent metal rod out of his back pocket and brought it up to the keyhole of the door.

"Tell me if someone's coming" the dark haired man instructed Hiccup.

"Wait? You're s_tealing_?!"

"Are you being serious right now? Because _you_ just stole a whole _bag_ worth of shit about twenty minutes ago and you didn't say nothing then" Toothless jabbed at Hiccup's chest with his bony finger, "and this is for you anyway"

He returned to picking the lock, turning the rod this way and that, muttering curses under his breath, until with a satisfying click the door opened.

"And we're in" Toothless dragged Hiccup into the room behind him. Once inside he walked straight to the back of the room and reached up high for a medical kit on a shelf; the rest of the room was filled with a countless supply of canned food, blankets, clothes and an alarmingly large range of weapons, varying from crossbows to guns.

The medical box clicked open and Toothless pulled out a blue tube.

"C'mere" he motioned to Hiccup.

He unscrewed the lid and squeezed some of the cream onto his fingers,

"Look up if you can" he instructed Hiccup. The man tilted his head up a fraction, but stopped when a stab of pain shot up through his neck.

Toothless gently rubbed the cool gel onto his skin, and when he was done he put the tube back into the box and the box back on the shelf, stealing a roll of bandages before he did and a new knife from the weapons selection for himself to replace the one he gave to Hiccup.

"Let's go to my room!" Toothless locked the room up and grabbed Hiccup's arm, pulling him along behind him.

They ran up to the second floor; the house was more like a hotel then a home, Hiccup could see at least ten doors in just the one corridor.

"This one is mine" Toothless pulled out a key on a chain that was fastened around his neck securely.

"It's rare that we get our own rooms, but no one really likes me much so I have my own, you can share with me if you like?" The last sentence sounded more like a plead,

"Yeah sure, I mean, I don't know anyone else here, and I don't want to end up rooming with someone like that guy from earlier" Hiccup reassured him.

"Yeah Snotlout, he used to be nice y'know, then something changed when his girlfriend was killed by the Crawlers" Toothless told the red head; he walked into his room, Hiccup following close behind and shutting the door when he was inside.

Toothless' room was, well, small. The bed filled up one half of the room and a tall metal filing cabinet standing in the far corner made the whole place seem clustered, but somehow the cramped space didn't make Hiccup feel uncomfortable or panicky; it was just, Toothless.

Posters hung up on the walls with the names of various bands and TV shows that Hiccup had never heard of, and there was a small table in front of his bed that had a collection of tattered photos in frames on it.

"How long have you been here for?" Hiccup questioned,

"I think about four months now..." Toothless replied, picking a walkie talkie off the floor and placing it in a charger slot on the table.

"Four months?! How long have those creatures been out there for?!" Hiccup practically exploded,

"Longer then you or anyone else knew about" Toothless replied grimly,

"How could we not have noticed them before?!" Hiccup felt like his head was going to explode,

"Because they were detained before..." Toothless looked unsure as to whether or not he should continue, "the guy we work for, the veteran; his best friend was a doctor who worked in countries with seriously sick people, he brought back a selection of his patients to run tests on them in this country to try and find cures, all top secret stuff. It was going great until one of his 'cures' went wrong and sent all his patients rabid, they killed him not long after and somehow escaped the facility they were being held in. This whole thing only happened a few days ago, however the Crawlers have been around in captivity for _months_." Toothless finished,

"How do you know all this?" Hiccup tried to take in all the new information.

"I broke into the chief's room when he was out and looked at some of his files. I was sick of being in the dark, and so were the rest of us" Toothless replied calmly,

"Oh, I see" Hiccup nodded slowly,

"Can I go back to my place and get some of my stuff to bring here?" He asked,

"No. Too dangerous now, maybe before, but not now." Toothless replied sullenly,

"Why not?" The red head gritted his teeth,

"Because it's too far and I don't want to die!" Toothless sat down stubbornly on his bed, "we should sleep," he commented, looking out of the window at the clear blue sky.

"But it's daytime!" Hiccup gaped,

"Exactly! The Crawlers come out at night, so we need to be awake and on guard duty then, we take it in turns" Toothless pulled the bed covers over himself and shut his eyes.

"Now go to sleep" he mumbled into the pillow,

"Where?" Hiccup looked around the tiny room, there was no chair to sleep in and he certainly wasn't giving himself a bad back by sleeping on the floor.

"Oh, right, um- yeah" Toothless sat upright, "I guess you could uh, sleep here" he patted the empty spot on the bed next to him,

"Seriously?" Hiccup raised an eyebrow,

"Seriously" Toothless nodded,

With a reluctant sigh, Hiccup took his shoes off and sat down on the bed, he lay down somewhat awkwardly; not used to sharing a pillow with another man.

"Night" Toothless muttered, his eyes shut again.

Hiccup shut his eyes and tried to force himself to fall alseep, eventually it worked and he dozed off into an uneasy rest.

Night was approaching, and he'd have to be ready for it.

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Okay guys new chapter! Woop woop! Sorry this took so long to release!

I'm sorry I made Snot such an ass, I guess it's because I've been reading the books lately and his character hates Hiccup and Toothless with a passion. I do however like Snot so please don't think this is some personal vendetta I have against him! He's actually one of my favourite characters!

Due to popular demand, **_this story is now in fact a Toothcup fic! _**So if you don't like Toothcup I recommend not to continue reading this from now onwards!

On a side note: it's my birthday today :)

**Maggi . Lefay: **thank you for your second review! It means a lot to me that you're keeping up with my work! I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

**Grim C.J Reaper & Anime-queen46: **Ihope I don't disappoint you with this then!

**Thank you also to everyone else who reviewed! I love you all! ~**_ Watermelon-Dragon-Chibi_


	4. Chapter 4

Hiccup was woken up at what felt like the middle of the night by an anxious looking Toothless.

"Come on Hiccup, we have to go _right_ now!" He urged the red-head to move, tugging at his limp arm.

Hiccup was already closing his tired eyes, and falling back asleep within seconds...

"No! Come on Hiccup! This is _serious_" Toothless fumbled around in the dark to find the male's boots. He dragged his legs out from under the cover and pulled the boots onto his feet.

"Do we _really_ have to go?" Hiccup mumbled drowsily, his voice muffled by the pillow smothering his face.

Toothless was about to reply harshly when an animalistic screech tore through the night.

"What the fuck was that?!" Hiccup sat bolt upright, fully alert now.

He reached out for the lamp on the bedside table but was stopped by Toothless smacking his hand out of the way.

"What the hell man? It's pitch black!" Hiccup grumbled and stood up, shivering from the sudden blast of cold air.

"The light and heat will attract them" Toothless warned. The man was fully decked out in his fighting gear; knife strapped to his leg, machete across his back and an unfamiliar, long object was grasped in his hand.

He had spread jet black war paint across his face in sharp, angular strokes making his unnaturally green eyes shine piercingly through the dark; Hiccup mused that the paint made him look like some sort of wild beast, a dragon maybe?

He shook his head clear of his idle thoughts, realising that it was _not_ the appropriate time to be thinking about nonsense.

His shivering increased to a violent level as his body became further exposed to the cool air.

"Are you cold Hic?" Toothless approached the other man.

Hiccup nodded slowly, noticing the nickname that the male had chosen for him.

Toothless paced silently further into the room and rooted around at the end of his bed until something furry and black was clutched in his pale hand.

"Here" he pulled the body warmer around the scrawny male's body, then patted it down.

"Thanks" Hiccup mumbled and looked down at his feet; suddenly embarrassed for no reason.

The warmer had a large hood that Hiccup pulled over his head, gripping the clothing tighter around his body to keep the heat in.

"Come on, we need to go" Toothless strapped the knife he had given to Hiccup earlier around the man's leg.

"Stay behind me and you'll be fine" he pushed a long, slender object into Hiccup's palm.

He squinted down and ran his hand along the object, it was a long metal bow.

"Only use it if you have to" Toothless instructed, passing a quiver that was half-full of arrows into Hiccup's spare hand.

Hiccup followed after Toothless silently in the dark. His heart was hammering uncomfortably in his chest, causing his stomach to do flips as he slipped through the shadowed building.

"Okay, we stand here by the windows and make sure none of the Crawlers get too close to the building" Toothless whispered,

"What happens if they get too close?" Hiccup responded, his bow sliding out of his palm that was slick with sweat.

In answer to Hiccup's question, an arrow whizzed through the air from somewhere else in the building, burying deep into a Crawler's head and killing the creature instantly.

"Aim for the head" Toothless instructed, his own bow nestled comfortably in his palm; it was obvious that he'd done it all before.

Screeches rang out as more Crawlers got closer to the building, creeping out of the shadows and staring listlessly at the fallen corpse of the Crawler that had been shot earlier.

"It's bad if they see it happen" Toothless told Hiccup.

"And why is that?"

"Because then they know where to find us, and once they start trying to get inside, bows and arrows _aren't_ going to be enough" he looked down grimly as if in remembrance, "just- don't fire unless you have to okay?"

Hiccup nodded grimly and set an arrow against the string, he wasn't a killer, he was a graduate from a crappy University, struggling to get a job; not a zombie killer.

It looked like fate had a different plan in mind for him.

* * *

Sorry it's not a long chapter guys! T_T I've not had much time to write this week! Had to write this in my spare moments.

My birthday was awesome! Got loads of HTTYD stuff and also this week I'm getting my hair cut like older Hiccup's! It's already dyed brown and ready to be chopped XD

Hope you liked my pathetic excuse of a chapter, yet again, thanks for reading!

**A big thanks to Maggi . Lefay who has been following this story from day one!**

**And another thank you to Grimm C . J Reaper who is an avid follower!**

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed my work!**

The next chapters gonna be good! ~_ Watermelon-Dragon-Chibi_


	5. Chapter 5

It was eerily peaceful for the next half hour.

The only movement being when Toothless would stand from his crouch and fire an arrow off into the night. This wasn't too bad, he could get used to it.

"So when do we stop?" Hiccup inquired, only to be silenced by Toothless glaring back at him, his piercing green eyes shining through the black.

"Don't talk!" He snapped before standing upright and firing an arrow, before sitting back down.

Hiccup couldn't believe it, but he was bored. He was sitting right in the middle of the 'zombie apocalypse' and _he was bored_.

Boredom and coldness add together to make tiredness; the young man was exhausted and he needed more sleep; he wasn't used to being awake at night and expected to remain alert...

..."Hiccup" the voice was distorted, "Hic!" It called again, this time with more urgency.

"Whas- time?" Hiccup slurred, his eyes opening slowly; Toothless was standing over his collapsed body, worry shone bright in his eyes.

The pale colours of dawn were fractured through the gaps in the blinds, spraying out in diatribe patterns on the cream wall opposite; Hiccup had been asleep a _lot_ longer then he'd planned.

"I thought you were dead!" Toothless lunged for Hiccup, kneeling down and throwing his arms around the man's shoulders. He awkwardly pulled back when Hiccup stiffened, and opted to kneel in front of him instead.

"You were so cold, I couldn't tell that you were asleep in the dark; and when Tuffnut came by to tell us our shift was over... You weren't moving. At all! I couldn't tell if you were breathing or..." the dark-haired man was clearly distressed, "it was _my_ duty to _protect_ you on your first night guard, and I failed you"

Hiccup reached out and held onto Toothless' arms,

"You didn't fail me, stop being ridiculous! I just fell asleep is all"

Hiccup offered a crooked smile, trying to put the man in front of him at ease.

"You were freezing-"

"Well stop going on about it! Look, nothing happened, so chill!" Hiccup hadn't realised he'd snapped until he saw the hurt in the greengage eyes mirroring of his own.

"I'm-"

He was about to apologise when a loud barking cough alerted them of another presence.

"Yeah, I hate to break you two _lovebirds_ up, but the boss wants to see him" Snotlout was standing less than a metre away, looking at Toothless with a disapproving scowl.

"Okay" Toothless replied shortly, pushing himself off the dusty floor and heading down the corridor.

"What's biting him?" Snotlout raised an eyebrow and stared after the mess of dark hair.

Hiccup had a horrible feeling it was something to do with him; Toothless had been really worried and he'd just dismissed it as if it were nothing at all.

He couldn't afford to lose the only friend he had in this place.

"Wait up!" He ran down the corridor after the other male.

Toothless turned and their eyes connected briefly before he looked away again, an angry aura emanating from his slender frame.

"What's wrong with you?" Shit! He hadn't meant it to sound like that, this was bad!

"**What's wrong with _you_?!**" Toothless snarled, a growl tearing up from deep within his throat. Hiccup took a step back, it wasn't natural for such an animalistic sound to come from a human; and with the jagged black war paint still spread across his eyes, Toothless looked like he was capable of murdering Hiccup right then and there.

"I was _worried_ about you, I felt like it was all my fault! And instead of being grateful, you whine like a fucking brat!" Toothless took a step towards Hiccup, intimidating the shorter man.

It hurt, the words stung Hiccup and he choked back a retort; he didn't know if he could fix this, but continuing to argue certainly wasn't the way to go about it, especially with Toothless as angry as he was.

They continued walking on in silence, they saw no one else on their journey, and the emptiness of the building was starting to disconcert Hiccup.

"Here" Toothless knocked on a wooden door that was painted a glossy white,

"Come in" a commanding voice barked from inside,

Toothless opened the door and pushed Hiccup in.

"So you're the new kid?" A man was sitting in a chair behind a long oak table, various clutter was piled on top of the surface as well as an old computer that was whirring annoyingly at the side. Knives and swords hung like decorations on the walls; the man himself was large, bulked with years worth of physical strain, although his ageing was showing through his grey-ing hair and wrinkling skin.

Hiccup felt like he was starting his first day of school again, bad memories flooded back to him. He didn't want to fail the inspection this time or he'd have more than bullies to worry about...

"Y-yes" his voice sounded weak, and he mentally cursed himself.

"Speak up son! I can't hear you!" It was obvious that this man had fought wars, his tone was commanding and demanded respect.

"_Yes sir_?" It was more of a question, but at least he spoke louder than last time,

"What's your name son?" The man barked,

"Hiccup" he replied,

"Peculiar, hope you don't turn out to be a _disappointment_ like Toothless here" he gestured to the man at Hiccup's side.

"No sir" Hiccup felt like he was betraying Toothless, in a way he was agreeing with the boss that Toothless was a failure to him.

"Dismissed"

A weight was lifted from Hiccup's shoulders as he left the room.

He looked across at Toothless and wanted to attempt at conversation when he was dragged forcefully down into a corridor by his his hair, that spun off from the main one.

"What the **fuck**?!" Toothless yelled, slamming Hiccup back into the wall and knocking the air from his lungs.

"_What_ is _with_ you?!" Hiccup gasped, raising his hands to protect his face from the sudden attack, but he was too slow; a fist connected with the side of his jaw, knocking his head back into the wall painfully.

"You were meant to be my friend Hiccup! You don't know what it's like! He's so cruel and you can't see it and no-one else can! And just-" Hiccup gasped as he saw tears welling up in the pain-stricken eyes.

"Forget it!" Toothless hurtled off down the hallway, his army boots clunking on the panelled floorboards.

Hiccup lay panting against the wall, his jaw throbbing and sending a shooting pain through his bone, and the spilling pain in his head made him want to vomit.

He was scared. Toothless' behaviour un-nerved him immensely, it was almost like he was bipolar; one second Hiccup was his best friend, and the next he hated him and was hitting out at him.

"Don't let it get to you"

"Woah!" Hiccup made a move away from the tall figure that was making it's way towards him through the dark.

"It's okay, _I'm_ not gonna hit you"

The light from the windows in the main corridor reached the man's shadowed figure revealing a long-faced blond with dreadlocks, and who looked like he had a whole load of attitude.

"Name's Tuffnut" he introduced himself, holding his hand out to Hiccup who shook it nervously.

"Aka, Tooth's previous best friend"

Hiccup was about to apologise for replacing him, but was stopped by Tuffnut shaking his head.

"Don't worry it's not your fault; he's got issues," he paused briefly as if he wasn't sure if he should continue or not, but Hiccup's curious look urged him on.

"He grew up here" Hiccup's eyes widened,

"He's an orphan see, his parents died when he was a baby and the boss took him in off the streets. He was treated like shit man, he wasn't allowed out, he had no friends and the boss never spoke to him; so as you can see it made him messed up."

Hiccup nodded,

"He clings to anyone who shows him kindness and feels some sort of extreme betrayal if they show any signs of going against him; I upset him once on a mission a few days after I got here and he put a knife in my leg"

Hiccup couldn't believe what he was hearing, Toothless had seemed too kind to be a crazy physcopath.

"_Obviously_ I stayed away from him after that, and my leg hasn't healed properly so I can only go on night guard now, missions are off-limit for me 'cause I'd slow everyone down. Look, what I'm trying to say is, it's not Toothless' fault he's messed up, if you wanna blame anyone then blame the boss" Tuffnut looked upset. Hiccup could tell that he still cared about the male even though he had hurt him so badly, both physically and mentally.

"Thanks for telling me" Hiccup placed a hand on the blond's shoulder, Tuffnut nodded and walked away with a sigh; turning only to speak once more before heading on,

"I'm here if you need me."

Hiccup knew he had to find Toothless; he wasn't mad anymore now he knew the reasons behind his actions.

He'd only been startled by the violence, but now he understood where it had come from he only wanted Toothless to know that he wanted to still be friends.

"Toothless!" Hiccup called out, "where are you?!"

* * *

Aghhh cliffhanger, sorta.

oh and by the way the boss _isn't_ a character from HTTYD, just someone random I made up.

Um yeah :') so I have my first HTTYD fic on hold whilst I'm writing this cause I've started yet **ANOTHER** fic, it's about Hiccup and what his life would be like as a widow with a kid. It's sad, but if you like that sort of thing then please go and read it and tell me what you think!

**Yet again, thanks for all the faves and follows! I couldn't do this without the support of you guys! And please, to all those silent followers why don't you let me know what you like about my story? Maybe you can help me make it better?**

**Josephagc**: thank you for your interesting and constructive review, in answer to your question, the zombies are like the ones from the Walking Dead crossed with the ones from I am Legend. I hope that cleared a few things up for you!

And yet again, big thanks to **Maggi . Lefay** for her continued support of this fic!

Also thanks for all the birthday wishes! I had an awesome day! And also now I have my hair cut like Hiccup's it looks so cool! My friends say it's kinda creepy how much I look like him! If you wanna see then type this in your search bar without the spaces and add the h, the t's and the p if ya know what I mean ::

: / / fav . me / d7x0hpp

~ _Watermelon-Dragon-Chibi_


	6. Chapter 6

Hiccup wandered slowly through the dark corridors of the empty building. Rays of bright orange dawn shone through the grimy windows and wooden boards that had been nailed across the glass like shutters.

Hiccup had been searching for Toothless for the best part of an hour, the house couldn't be _that_ big, where was he hiding?

The young man began to call out for his companion again,

"Toothless? _Seriously_, where _are_ you?" his voice was scratchy and raw from not drinking since the day before, and his stomach protested painfully at the lack of food.

Hiccup suddenly felt a wave of hopelessness wash over him. He slumped back against the wall in a dimly lit corridor and slowly sank to his knee; he hadn't come across any of the numerous people living in the building that he had seen when he was originally taken there, he couldn't figure out where everyone went during the day.

He buried his head into his knees, sweat dripping down into his eyelashes and stinging his eyes; nausea hitting him the chest, he was _so_ hungry.

His mind was slipping when he felt a sudden pressure on his shoulder; wearily Hiccup picked his head up and let his eyes fall into focus.

"I'm _so_ sorry"

Hiccup felt calm warmth as two sturdy arms wrapped around his shoulders,

"I _hurt_ you, I'm so sorry" Toothless choked, his black war paint had been washed off but he was still in the same clothes, Hiccup noted.

"'S okay" the auburn-haired man shifted until he was sitting in a more upright position.

Toothless pulled away from him slightly and touched his face with a pale hand, running his fingertips over the bruised jaw,

"It looks bad" he bit his lip, the guilt eating at him,

"Seriously, it's okay" Hiccup winced as a shot of pain pieced his head and jawbone simultaneously, he was going to be-

Hiccup brought up what little was in his stomach onto the floor by Toothless' knees.

"**Shit**!" the dark-haired man manoeuvred around Hiccup and wrapped his arms around Hiccup's waist to support him whilst he wretched.

"I'm sorry" Toothless repeated again and again, burying his nose into Hiccup's sweat-drenched back between his shoulder blades.

Hiccup gasped for air and whimpered, shuddering from the cold. He couldn't feel his limbs and his mind was foggy from severe lack of nutrition, he was thoroughly un-hydrated.

Toothless released him and dragged Hiccup to his feet, letting him rest against the wall until he got his breath back.

Toothless reached forwards again and tenderly brushed the scraggy red hair out of the pained greengage eyes.

"Don't, you'll get sick on you-…" Hiccup mumbled and made to push the other male's hand away, but Toothless just smiled and shook his head.

"I don't mind" he offered a toothy grin;

Hiccup closed his eyes and laid his head against the cool plasterboard, he had been attacked by the man who was now caring for him as if he had been mauled by a wild animal, it just didn't make sense.

Eventually Toothless spoke,

"You wanna head back to the room?"

Hiccup nodded slowly and together they steadily made their way up the stairwell and through the chipped door that led into Toothless' bedroom.

Hiccup sat down on the bed and grudgingly allowed Toothless to pick his legs up and prop his head upon the pillow.

"You should sleep a while" Toothless kneeled by the side of the bed.

"I need food Tooth" Hiccup wrapped his hands around his aching stomach,

"**Oh shit yeah**! I'm sorry Hic I forgot, _oh man_ I'm so sorry" the dark-haired male darted out of the door, his army boots clunking loudly on the stairs as he descended.

* * *

"_Here_, I got you something"

Hiccup opened his eyes to see Toothless holding out a revolting half-eaten fish to him,

"You being serious?" he took the cold fish in his hands and turned it over, his stomach writhing at the smell.

"Yeah, it's all I could scavenge, it's been cooked or else half of it wouldn't already be gone" he noted, pointing at the unappetising sight.

"Alright then" Hiccup sank his teeth into the flesh and shuddered, it was **disgusting**.

"It okay?" Toothless looked at him hopefully,

"mmm" Hiccup pretended to enjoy the food and swallowed, instantly wanting to gag the salty mouthful back up.

"Here, you can have the rest" he smiled and handed the fish back to Toothless, praying that the male wouldn't oppose and make him eat more.

"Thanks!" Toothless snatched the fish from Hiccup's grasp and wolfed it down, licking his lips afterwards to savour the taste.

"How can you eat that shit?" Hiccup lay back down, his head spinning again.

"I dunno, tasted alright to me" he grinned, sitting cross-legged on the floor by the bed,

"You can come up here if you want to; it's your bed…" Hiccup felt awkward for hogging the only piece of comfortable furniture in the room.

"Thanks" Toothless rose from the floor, his knees cracking as he stood; he leaned over Hiccup, putting one knee on the other side of the male- and tripped over the bed-leg with his other foot.

"**Shit**!" Toothless exclaimed as Hiccup let out an undignified '_oof_' at having been squashed under the other male's bulk.

"_Jeez_" he wheezed, shoving Toothless off his body,

"Sorry" Toothless cringed, settling himself down in the gap at Hiccup's side.

Hiccup just glared back sleepily, exhaustion catching up with him again.

He turned to face Toothless and smiled meekly, he felt more content then he had in a long time, and he couldn't figure out as to why that was.

Toothless slid a hand under Hiccup's waist, pulling him closer and holding his head to his chest with the other,

"Is this okay?" his breath hitched, watching the other male for any signs of discomfort,

"mmm, s' fine" Hiccup nodded, enjoying the bit of warmth offered to him in the freezing cold building.

"Goodnight" Toothless pulled the cover over them, and they waited for the night to begin…

* * *

Yohoo! 'tis me again!

Sorry I disappeared for however long I was gone for! School is so bloody time consuming I haven't had time to sit down and write anything.

Nothing really exciting here, but some Toothcup interaction I guess.

Anyways, next chapter is action, and lots of it! So stick with me here guys!

**Yet again thank you so much for all the faves, follows and reviews I have got! Your support is what keeps me writing this guys!**

**Josephagc:** thank you for your continued guidance and support of my story! I remember all the advice you've given to me and use it to better my story. I won't have that cliché happening don't worry. Also thanks for the compliment on my hair! Means a lot :'3

**Maggi . Lefay: **you're always here to faithfully post a new review! Thank you so much for always being here and a steady reviewer and follower of the fic!

**Anime-queen46:** I've noticed that you actually post a lot of support too! So thanks!

Yet again, thanks guys! _~ Watermelon-Dragon-Chibi_


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